Iran Human Rights (Jan 4 2018): Amir Hossein Pourjafar, who was charged with rape and murder when he was less than 16 years old, was executed at Rajai Shahr Prison today, This is despite the fact that the international laws strictly ban execution of minor offenders.

According to a report by Fars News, on the morning of Thursday January 4, Amir Hossein Pourjafar, who raped and murdered a young girl in Pakdasht, was hanged.

A close source told Iran Human Rights (IHR) that Amir Hossein was executed at Rajai Shahr Prison. He was transferred to solitary confinement of this prison on Monday January 1, 2018. Two more prisoners were also transferred to solitary confinement on the same day, but there is no information regarding what happened to them.

Amir Hossein Pourjafar’s lawyer had previously told an official medium, “Amir Hossein was born on December 17, 1999; so technically he wasn’t 16 at the time of murder, i.e. on April 11, 2016.”

The execution of this child offender is a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Iran has ratified. Iran Human Rights (IHR) urges the International Community to condemn this execution.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) has reported executions of five juvenile offenders in Iran in 2017.